Worldwide Talent Shortage Creating Fierce
Competition

The Manpower 2008 Borderless Workforce Survey
reveals 31% of employers worldwide are concerned about
the impact on the labor market from talent leaving their
country to go and work in another country, according to a
press release. That concern was greatest in Peru (82%),
Argentina (66%), South Africa (65%), Taiwan (64%), and
India (57%), and was expressed the least by employers in
China (1%), Ireland (7%), Japan (12%), and Switzerland
(12%).

Fourteen percent of employers in the U.S. said they
were concerned about the impact on their labor markets
resulting from talent leaving their country to work in
another country, the press release said.

Only 15% of employers worldwide think governments
and businesses are doing enough to slow the outward
migration of talent and attract these people back to
their country. Of U.S. survey respondents, 68% indicated
they do not think the government is doing enough to keep
talent in the country.

According to the announcement, the top 10 jobs that
employers are filling with foreign talent across the 27
countries and territories surveyed are:

1. Laborers

2. Engineers

3. Production Operators

4. Technicians

5. IT Staff

6. Sales Representatives

7. Administrative Assistants / PAs

8. Customer Service Representatives

9. Senior Executives / Board Members

10. Accounting&Finance Staff

The survey found the countries primarily losing
talent to other countries are China, the U.S., India, the
U.K., and Germany. Substituting Japan for Germany
provides the list of the top countries employers believe
provide the biggest competitive threat to their own
country’s ability to compete economically.